The Star of Light
by AnotherStupidLoserlol
Summary: The rifts of space and time opened up after what felt like eons, spitting out a certain pink puffball on a star into the new sky he was sent to. He was just barely holding on for dear life, all his energy being put into traveling caused his small body to quickly weaken. What had seemed futile and impossible the puff had proved possible, but at the cost of his friends.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** OWO whats this? The Nintendo direct about Super smash bros ultimate involved the deaths of fictional characters that we either grew up with, don't know anything about, or just hate playing against because they're actually super infuriating and everyone started writing Fanfictions about it? Damn it Sakurai. I have a sinking feeling all the other fanfictions people write about WoL will quickly fade into a pit of dead trends sometime within early November and mid December, but I'm going to put my spin on WoL anyway because no one will stop me!

 **NOTES/Warnings:** Spoilers for the WoL trailer I guess but at this point everyone knows about it right?

* * *

"Don't let a single one get away!"

Those brave enough to take up the cause of justice and honor stood their ground at the sight that beheld them in the horizon. Fox was at the lead, pointing his blaster to the sky with obvious pride and certainty that the threat would be contained. Above the sunset reflecting waters of the ocean below were hundreds, maybe thousands of gloved white hands hovered slowly around a glowing white being known as Galeem, as if hypnotized by it. Among the crowd of legendary heroes and villains stood one that everyone had come to know as Kirby from a planet called Popstar. He had been on numerous adventures with those around him, and even though his mind could process only a single thought, he knew that this was another moment where he needed to lend his abilities for the greater good. Near him were Zelda, Mega man, Samus, and Bowser, people he had considered friends regardless of whatever they did or who they sided with. The pink puff tried to mimic their stern, bold expressions and added a touch of his own boldness by lifting one of his stubby hands up.

"We'll each need to take down about ten."

"Stow your fear. Its now or never!"

"We'll win this. I know we will!"

As if triggered remotely, the white cloth of the hands peeled off into tiny shreds, showing a bright blue, almost see through interior. This interior floated towards Galeem, who willingly collected them and absorbed them into itself. Something struck the Monado wielder, Shulk, and visions of the near future hit him like Peach's frying pan to the face. He couldn't describe what he saw even if he tried, which resulted in nothing but a stutter when he tried to turn around and warn his fellow smashers of the impending doom. Galeem's white form shifted into a flat black one, like a hole was punched into the sky, and began giving off a faint buzzing noise as the hands were absorbed into it. Without warning, the energy from the hands shot out of all sides around Galeem, turning into golden-yellow colored tentacles and racing towards the smashers with incredible speed. The first of these glowing streaks bounced off Link's shield, causing him to steady himself from the blow and attack with his blade. His attack inevitably missed, and another beam of light bounced off his shield as another consumed him. Samus reared up and lifted her canon to the sky, firing plasma shot after plasma shot at their attackers. She attempted to sidestep out of the way when she realized they were untouchable, but was also shortly consumed by the beams. Kirby glanced around him fearfully. He had already witnessed a handful of his friends disintegrate into nothingness, and had little clue what else to do. If he had not seen this, his instinct would have been to fight back, but that would have resulted in the same fate as the others. The pink puff watched Sonic and Pikachu attempt to escape with their speed, Zelda and Mewtwo try to reflect them, Marth try to deliver one of his famous counters, and Mario shoot fireballs towards these mysterious attackers, all of which ended with them falling victim to their enemies. In a panic, Kirby summoned his Warp Star, only half certain that he would make it out alive. He hopped on it swiftly, rocketing into the sky above with the same incredible speed the beams had.

As he ascended further upward, he saw more and more of his friends fall. Captain Falcon was caught before he could hop into his ship, Lucario and Greninja were stopped before they could even move, Rosalina's futile attempt to fly away, and Pit and Dark pit falling from the sky into the golden light were just a few of many things the puff saw as he put all his energy into escaping. Before long, he was the last remaining fighter, and also the last target for Galeem. Kirby took a quick glance behind him to see that the creatures he was racing away from were catching up to him, and catching up unexpectedly fast. He let out a gasp - or at least he thought he did - and put more of his energy into speeding up the Warp Star. The Star obeyed, and the speed at which it traveled at increased greatly, but the beams seemed to know that Kirby was desperate to escape and sped up in response to the Popstarian's action. There was no time to look back now, Kirby needed to put all his concentrated energy into getting out as fast as he could. The feeling of the wind on his face became sharper and colder as the Warp Star obliged to the whim of its rider and flew faster. Faster, faster, _faster._ Almost there. He could feel time and space bending to his will too. _Now._ The Warp Star suddenly shifted and vanished in the sky, leaving behind a trail of tiny pale yellow stars where it had been previously. As if they were sentient, the beams located other targets beneath the clouds and began to consume them as well. Within about a second, the entire world was eaten alive by the light, then the surrounding planets, and soon enough, the whole galaxy.

* * *

The rifts of space and time opened up after what felt like eons, spitting out a certain Puffball on a star into the new sky he was sent to. He was just barely holding on for dear life, all his energy being put into traveling caused his small body to quickly weaken. What had seemed futile and impossible the puff had proved possible, but at the cost of his friends. The Warp Star suddenly crashed into the dry, rocky ground below, breaking both its physical form and Kirby's thoughts. Kirby slid on his face through the dusty terrain, possibly receiving small scratches on his leathery skin. When he finally came to a halt, Kirby collected his thoughts once again. Again, because he was a simple creature, he could only think of few things that would build the base of what the Popstarian had seen. _Light and death._ Kirby had just watched all his friends disintegrate into ashes and put all his power into a great escapade away from the fate they all suffered. He doubted there was anyway to recover after all that happened. Despite this, he found the strength to stand up on his stubby red feet. His scarred face was greeted with a sight he had never imagined he would see. It was like he traveled to a whole other planet, but a very recognizable one. To his left, he could see a massive stone castle, one that he thought came from Simon Belmont's world. On his right was a building that reminded him of the bomb factory from when the Subspace had attempted to seize control combined with something along the lines of Fourside and Onett. Finally, the middle of this mysterious world contained essences of the pillars and ruins of Skyworld mixed in with a castle like the ones from the world his Fire Emblem friends came from with an odd dash of icicle mountain in the distance.

Kirby lifted his stubby hands up and gasped in awe. It felt so comforting and familiar, but so frightening and uncomfortable as well. All of this, all these bits and pieces of worlds he traveled to with all his friends, it reminded him of his new - albeit self-given - quest. _Save friends. Friends need help. Must rescue them._ He couldn't imagine what kind of trouble and terror they were sinking in at the moment, but it only drove him to set off and complete this quest. Settling on his thoughts about his friends being in danger, the pink puffy hero set off on a perilous and valorous journey to rescue friends and, unknowingly, the entire universe as they all knew it.


	2. Chapter 2

The first things that would come to a person's mind when being in a black and empty abyss such as this would be the frigid air around them and the impending feeling of loneliness. If the plumber had retained his ability to think freely, he probably would have thought something like that as well. However, he was chained to a stone base in said abyss, with any and all thoughts and memories barely holding onto him in his mind. Wherever he was, it was certainly dark and solitary, giving off the vibe that he was in hell. Something even colder touched the cap of the frozen plumber's hat, and began to spread and coat him like chocolate on a strawberry. A soap like, golden liquid began to take in his form, coating him for a brief moment before branching off onto the bottom of the stone base. As if something inside it had changed, it solidified into the same form the plumber had, copying any and all aspects of his face, clothing, and powers. Because of the change it took, it fell from the base onto an unseen surface, like a toy dropping from a shelf into hardwood floor. Something other than the copy suddenly became aware of its existence. A glowing rainbow light found its way towards the figure, not entirely sure what to do. Then it remembered. The creature fazed through the form of the plumber, gaining access to his feelings, powers, and memories. He was interesting to the creature, looking through all of the memories of those the host loved and hated and examining their abilities was rare for it. Finally, the figure lifted up from the surface like a possessed rag doll, lifting its head up and allowing closed eyes to open and reveal bright red ones that shone brightly through the dark. Now all that was left was to remove any weakness it had. Even though the figure was solid now, the inside of it was still hollow and could constrict itself at will.

And that was exactly what it did.

Where once were stomach muscles, pastel yellow flesh pushed inward, forcing the organs up through the creature's esophagus. Unfortunately this was the hardest part of creating a perfect clone. The flesh pushed more, sending a gallbladder up into his throat before coming out of his mouth. This vomiting of an organ earned a horrid retching sound from the creature, with another unnecessary thing, blood, spilling out closely behind said organ. After that came a stomach, then a pancreas, a liver and a pair of kidneys, a small and large intestine, and everything else including blood. The sounds of garbled groaning and choking faded as the creature almost finished getting rid of the very last weakness; _compassion._ It forced its way inside the brain and began attacking any and all nerves that could feel pain - emotional and physical - as well as sympathy and any feelings of happiness or love. There, the cloning process was complete. The plumber sputtered and coughed out the remaining blood inside it, before opening his jaws to an inhuman width and letting out a terrifying, demonic howl. Another similar noise echoed from the darkness behind it., surprising it with the fact that it was not alone like it believed it was.

Another pair of eyes glowered at him from the cover of darkness, showing very little of the others form around the source of light, and yet the plumber's clone recognized him by both the sound of his voice and what little detail could be seen around its glowing eyes. _Monado Boy._ Yet another scream of rage erupted from the darkness, accompanied by another pair of strawberry red eyes. This one he also recognized. _Hero-King._ More and more beings made themselves known by their own unique cries and appearances. Even in such little light, the plumber's clone could barely make out everyone he knew around him. _Boxer, Self-proclaimed king, Vampire hunter, Hero of Hyrule._ Some of them dared to rise to their feet, somewhat unsure of what they had become and where they were. Those few who did rise began to growl in their new distorted and monster-esque voices at others around them, as if identifying them as hostile beings. This caused some fighting among them, starting an eruption of yowls and roaring and screeching. "Enough," a whisper-like voice echoed from above.

"You shall not fight with yourselves. Your purpose is to take those unlike you all."

This caught the attention of all the clones within the shadowy abyss. From the shadows above them, the faint glimmer of Galeem's light directed their attention towards it. Many hissed in protest to the light that hit their faces, not knowing was it was. Galeem scanned the collection of the galaxies greatest warriors that he amassed in one fell swoop, doing a head count of how many it caught. At first, it was uncertain with the results of the first count, then did a second one before coming to a conclusion, filled with dismay. "We are missing one; the pink puffball Kirby"

Their eyes lit up at the name Kirby. Galeem knew that they all were familiar with him. "All of you, I command you this; search throughout this world for Kirby. When you find him, bring him to me, dead or alive. While on your hunt for Kirby, kill and take anything that defies me and my goal. Allow them the same endless suffering I have given you and many others before thee." it spoke. As it gave orders, hundreds of glowing orbs depicting places that every fighter knew, from Windy hill zone to Kongo Jungle and Tortimer Island appeared in front of them, swirling slowly around one another. "These orbs contain portals to places you have all been to. Kirby is hiding somewhere in these places. I command you all to go through them and begin your task." At their leader's command, the clones obeyed, each of them crawling into an orb and starting their own sinister quest. Galeem felt a sense of victory within itself. _Divide and conquer; a classic strategy._ With all these great warriors on its side, what could a puny pink alien do to stop it and its conquest?

* * *

 **A/N:** Alright! There's my take on WoL! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I think I set a new record on writing a story since this took me less than about an hour and a half to type and proofread. Obviously, I'll continue this once SSBU comes out and I can actually play the story mode, so until then, I hope everyone is hyped and that you all can enjoy the game when it comes out!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: O I I'm updating again I hope that's okay. I hope you wanted three new chapters of SoL because that's what I'm giving you today. Enjoy!**

Blue eyes took another look over the new territory he had warped to, this time looking for some way to get down to the woods below the cliff he stood on. In front, there was nothing but scattered deciduous trees, but to his left was a marvelous stone formation that created something of a staircase into the wood. He darted down said stone stairs with haste, hoping that time was on his side in this battle. The sunlight above him was slowly absorbed by the leaves of the trees as he ran into the woods, half expecting some familiar enemies to pop out at him from the bushes. But there was nothing but silence. A silence that Kirby wasn't used to. There were no birds or bugs in these woods, nor were there any wild animals. Kirby skidded to a halt to make sure that this was true. No chirping birds or animals in the bushes were seen or heard. He shrugged it off, trying not to fear the place he was in. Besides, he had traveled through various woodland areas in the past, surely there wouldn't be very much difference between those woods and this one, right? Without warning the sunlight re-entered the woods, brushing past Kirby as he continued to run down the path. Now that there was more light, he felt much more safe and could see the path a little better. He continued to waddle down the dusty path, the only thing keeping him going other than a craving for apples was the need to see his friends again. The forest didn't cease to surprise him with how different it was from Dreamland. Every turn he took and behind every tree he expected there to be an enemy or food for him to eat, but to no avail. After what seemed like hours of walking he made it to the edge of the woods.

A gentle breeze carried tiny pebbles and rocky debris across Kirby's face as he took a brief pause to catch his breath. Interrupting his moment was the rustling of bushes behind him. He turned around to face the lush foliage, this time bracing himself for an attack. But none came. Kirby took a risk in standing still, making sure he wasn't alone. Some time passed, and the puffball concluded he was safe and began walking away. Suddenly, he was pinned to the ground by an unknown creature, feeling a cold hand touch him and toxic gas hit his lungs. He cried out as he turned to face his attacker head on. Oval shaped blue eyes met with circular magenta ones, making fear tickle Kirby's insides when he realized who he was facing. Standing just above him was Mario, dressed in dark purple overalls and matching hat with white undergarments. He let out a garbled groan as he gripped Kirby by his hand and threw him against a tree. The feeling of fear was too overwhelming for Kirby, and his instinct to run took over, driving him to run in circles. Mario followed very close behind, with animalistic growls emitting from his throat. He chased the puff through the woods and back to where the bushes were previously and further beyond that. When he got close enough to Kirby he grabbed him by the hand again and threw him into a rock like a baseball. The impact did little harm to his body, but temporarily stunned him. He fell to the ground with a _poof_ , sending dust around him. Mario leapt into the air with his fist close to his waist, ready to punch him when they came close enough together. Out of panic, Kirby jumped up and kicked him in the face, causing Mario to sputter and fall to the ground. Both of them landed on the ground below, but Mario was the first to stand up with his teeth clenched and a fist launching towards Kirby. Kirby ducked just below the punch and tripped Mario before he could react further. Spotting an opening, Kirby grabbed Mario this time, throwing him back on the ground and delivering several consecutive hits to his chest. As if he didn't feel pain, the plumber got right back up and finally punched the pink puff in the face, sending him flying backward against another rock. Kirby slowly lifted his pink body up, trying to regain his stance as Mario charged at him again. His nerves frayed, the panic to great for him to think of what to do. As he saw Mario approaching as fast as he was, Kirby got an idea. He lifted one hand up in the air, summoning his hammer, and propped it over his body, letting its power charge slowly. When Mario was just barely close enough to hit him, the hammer caught fire and Kirby leapt against the rock he was thrown against to deliver a punishing blow to the plumber's head. He was rocketed into the air with the impact, causing smoke to follow him as he flew towards the horizon. He landed softly on the dirt below, exhaling with relief as his attacker suddenly disappeared from view. His eyes scanned the sky again, half expecting to see him return from the clouds above, but he didn't. "Poyo!" He cheered to himself as he turned to walk away. In a split second, something cold and slimy stuck to him from behind, pulling him the opposite way. His mouth opened to cry out, but was stopped when he was thrown into tree on the other side of the forest. Startled, Kirby lifted himself off the ground and peered up to see who his new enemy was.

Fear rose from the pit of his stomach again, as he spotted Yoshi looming over him with deep indigo scales covering his body and strawberry red eyes contrasting against his face. A long, slimy tongue lolled out the side of his face, which had slick looking suckers on the very end of it. A garbled noise similar to the one Mario made rumbled in its throat as the tongue proceeded to shoot out to him again, threatening to launch him in another direction. Kirby dodged out of the path of the tongue as quickly as he could, then followed his up with a kick to Yoshi's stomach, knocking the dinosaur off balance. Feeling sudden confidence fill his body, he then attacked more, this time punching him in the nose and his mouth. Yoshi hissed angrily at Kirby, but couldn't attack due to how rapid Kirby's were. Eventually, Kirby unleashed a powerful kick to Yoshi's abdomen, causing Yoshi to fall on the floor. Kirby stood up a bit taller than he usually was, trying to look bigger and tougher than he really was. That toughness disintegrated when three other Yoshi leapt out of the bushes with a snarl. The gang of Yoshi growled at him menacingly, closing in on him between the woods and the bushes behind them. "P-poyo!" he said, backing up slowly until his body felt something touch him again. When he turned around, he met with another pink puffball, this one with a deep violet red bow wrapped around its head that was torn slightly. Its big, beady turquoise eyes were staring directly at Kirby, which was only made scarier by the drool coming out of its oval shaped mouth. No sound came from it, but its expression said it all. _What happen to friends?,_ Kirby wondered, moving away from all of his enemies as they circled around him. One of the Yoshi lashed its tongue at Kirby, who avoided it. The cold tongue whipped around the Yoshis head when it missed and ended up hitting Jigglypuff in the eye instead. The Yoshi retracted its tongue, growling at Jigglypuff as she turned her focus to them instead of Kirby. Within just a few seconds, the four of them were fighting each other, with Kirby watching a few feet away. Part of him wanted to find some way to break up the fight, but he also knew that these weren't quite his friends if they were turning on each other this quickly. Then it came to him. He lifted his hand up into the air again, letting the hammer appear out of thin air, and began to charge its power as his opponents mindlessly fought each other. Once the mallet caught fire he jumped on top of all four of them and gave the hammer a powerful swing.

With a loud _crack,_ they were all separated from each other as their heads hit the trees behind them. Their bodies fell limp onto the green grass below without protest. Kirby silently studied their bodies from where he landed, half expecting them to get up and start snarling at him again. The smell of smoke wafted in his face suddenly, making him cough and choke on it. Each of the fighters' bodies were slowly melting like ice cream in the summer, with a filthy looking pastel yellow liquid dripping down the sides of their heads coating any other color they had on the rest of them. Kirby clenched his cheeks at the sight and the stench, trying not to vomit. Something else rose from the mysterious yellow carcasses, floating up above them and towards Kirby curiously. If he squinted a little, he could see faint faces inside them of organisms he had never met before. The first of them had the face of an owl-like creature, with magenta feathers covering white ones over its body. The second featured a creature that looked similar to a small dog or fox with its brown and tan fur and tall pointed ears on its head. "Hello there, mystery hero! Thank you for saving us both!" The first light said to him. "Poyo!" Kirby replied, still trying to comprehend what was floating in front of him. "My name is Celeste. I was looking for the mayor before I was swept up by some kind of blinding light and forced against my will to fight you in someone else's body! Its been so dreadful. Do you think you can help me?" She asked him. He lifted a hand to his mouth, taking a few seconds to think about her question before lifting both hands up into the air and giving her his most confident "Poyo!". She giggled at his adorable noises and floated closer to him. "So you'll have me then? Great! I don't know what I'll be able to do for you in battle, but I promise I'll do what I can to help!" Kirby hopped into the air with a smile on his face, clearly he was either excited to have traveling buddies or to have others help him find his friends. Both lights faded suddenly, making Kirby worry if they would come back for him. A surge of strength began to flow through his body now, making him feel lighter on his feet and overall more courageous than before. "Oh! I didn't mean to do that! How do you feel mister?" Celeste asked him. "Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby cheered. "You feel stronger? Okay, well how about we go find others like us? Maybe we can help them in return for their strength." Kirby smiled again, and turned back to face the dirt path in front of him. He climbed over a set of gray stones in front of him and continued searching for his friends.

* * *

A thick cloud of dust and dirt brushed against dark gray metal, earning a faint noise from it. The wind dropped the dirt underneath the enormous metal platform, helping to build a small mound that may as well have been man made. Kirby spotted the metal platform from about twenty feet away, staring into the colors it reflected from the sunlight and the curious glimmering substance flowing through the surface of it. He looked around again, and he cheered internally at the sight of one of his best friends. Mario was standing on one edge of the platform, this time with his usual red hat and blue overalls instead of some outlandish color like before. Though he had his back turned to Kirby, the puffball could already tell it was him just by what he was wearing. His body kicked into gear again as he darted to the platform with his hands just above his hands. He gripped onto one end of the platform and pulled himself on top of it, looking up to see his friend still turned to him. "Poyo! Poyo poyo!" Kirby shouted. Mario's head shot back to him, a pair of deep red eyes scanning Kirby's body briefly. He turned to face his former friend, a thread of drool spilling down over his chin and a low growl sounding from his throat. Now Kirby was regretting going after the person he believed to be his friend. Mario raced towards him with his hands outstretched, reaching to grab Kirby. He ducked just in time and tripped Mario over with a kick to his ankles. Mario groaned at the contact before Kirby brought another kick to the plumber's face. He skid against the smooth surface of the metal, feeling no pain whatsoever. Mario lifted himself off the ground, charging at Kirby again. Kirby bounded into the air, giving Mario three more kicks in the face and launching him backwards. Despite the direct hit, Mario was able to stand back up again, wiping drool from off his lip. He jumped up after Kirby, raising a clenched fist to spike the Popstarian down onto the hard metal. At the impact, Kirby felt his insides churn slightly. Upon his descent, Mario stretched his legs out and prepared to deliver a downward kick to Kirby. But the plumber underestimated Kirby's reaction time, and he managed to roll underneath his attacker before delivering a horizontal kick to him. Mario flew straight up in the air, trying to figure out what exactly was happening. Kirby followed close behind him, giving him a powerful kick to the face again when Mario began his descent. A loud growl came from the plumber when his head hit the metal ground, and he hauled himself up to stop an incoming kick from above. A gloved hand reached out and caught Kirby by his foot, bringing him closer to the plumbers body. A set of teeth came out of seemingly nowhere, digging into Kirby's flesh as the puff struggled for freedom. Mario removed his teeth from the spot where he bit Kirby and chose a different one closer to his right cheek, earning a pained cry from him. Kirby's foot came to repeatedly bash Mario under his chin in a desperate attempt to free him from the grip of his enemy. After about the fourth kick, Mario finally let go, allowing Kirby to thank him with a kick to the chest. Mario didn't go flying as far as he had before with the impact and rather stumbled backward. Kirby didn't waste any time in the fight, and followed the kick up with another very strong vertical kick. Smoke bellowed from Mario as he shot backwards to the other end of the stage. He took a knee and tried to recollect his energy, only glancing back up when he saw Kirby rushing towards him engulfed with bright red flames. The flames soon engulfed Mario as well, earning a raspy shriek of pain and knocking off the stage onto the dry ground of the desert about a foot below. Kirby peered over the edge cautiously, hoping that he would no longer have to fight Mario anymore. To his dismay, the plumber slowly rose from the ground, looking up ferociously at Kirby. The entire left side of his torso and arm was beginning to swell up like a balloon, showing the same pastel yellow flesh Kirby's earlier foes had. Outlining where the muscles on his shoulder, chest, and arm were almost charred, meaning if Kirby had been more precise with his hit he may have actually burnt the plumber to a crisp. Mario jumped into the air with a loud grunt, punching Kirby twice in the face making blood drip on his gloves. The Popstarian hit the middle of the stage with a quiet _poof_ , with Mario chasing behind him growling loudly. He rose his fist up, expecting Kirby to stand up straight and knock him back down again, but Kirby brought his foot to hit Mario's chest. When the plumber was stunned, Kirby tried using his dash attack a second time, this time hitting the plumber a bit more accurately than before. Instead of launching him vertically, the attack only nudged him slightly backward, leaving him engulfed in flames again as Kirby stepped back and watched anxiously.

The yellow flesh began to swell up in his chest and right shoulder, raising up like yeast in an oven. Mario's mouth opened to an unholy width and screeched as loud as he could manage before the vessel bursted suddenly. Chunks of flesh in every size flew in every direction, covering both the metal platform and Kirby. A piece of it landed in Kirby's mouth, making him sputter and cough sickeningly. Out of the mess that was the now destroyed vessel came a floating light like the one Kirby had found in the woods. It floated closer to the ground and started to trace the outline of a shape that was familiar to Kirby. A glint of light caught Kirby off guard as the form of the real Mario appeared in front of him. Mario's eyes shot open, and he stumbled a little as he glanced around fearfully. "K-Kirby? Where am I?" He asked him. Kirby did his best to explain the current situation in his poyo language, which was difficult to understand, but Mario got the message. "So they're gone correct? That means its just us now…" Mario staggered to his feet, Kirby waddling beneath him to help support his weight. His eyes scanned the desolate environment, trying to understand the situation a little better. "So now we're in the middle of nowhere, huh?" He asked the pink puff, who nodded in response. Once the plumber's strength returned to him, he straightened his posture and stretched his joints out, earning popping from a few of them. "Do you think everyone else is somewhere here?" Mario asked him again. Kirby simply cocked his head to one side. "Maybe we could try to find our way around this place. We never know what we might find around here." Kirby cheered a little at the suggestion. "We should hurry though, its getting dark," He said, pointing in the direction of the setting sun. Though the sun hadn't set low enough to be dark at all in the sky, any blue it had once had was now turning a citrus orange with some yellow in between the sun and the sky. It was only now that Kirby began to realize how little he had done to try and save his friends; and how sleepy he was getting now. "C'mon Kirby. Let's see what we can find."

* * *

Jagged rocks and red dirt surrounded the structure that they had come across, making it look as if some unknown rock monster would shut its jaws on it. The structure itself was circular in shape, with four bridges connecting it between four different places surrounding the outside. Stone steps led to the center, with small ruins occupying it. Surrounding the very edge of the platform were huge stone pillars that were almost like columns, with moss and plant life strewn about on the surface of them. Stone pathways on every side gave way to bridges leading to a completely different scene. Kirby and Mario took in the sight for a few seconds, silently debating on what to do. Thick fog was on the left and right sides of the bridges, and the north bridge was too dark to see. Mario slid down the rocky side of the hill they stood on, approaching the structure with Kirby following suit. They climbed to the very top of it, taking another look around to look into their options. Very faintly in the fog one could make out little blue lights that were floating about aimlessly, except for the north bridge, which was completely dark. Mario double-checked their options atop the flat platform, then coming up with an idea. "Kirby. I have a plan. We should split up; I'll take the right, and you go left. Then we'll meet back here in the center if we find our friends. Got it?" Kirby smiled and nodded in response, striking a courageous pose at the plan. "Okay. Be careful out there," Mario told him, feeling fear rise in his belly as he prepared to leave the only friend he knew of on this world. Both heroes gave each other sorrowful, anxious looks before entering the darkness before them.


	4. Chapter 4: VS Villager

Sunlight faded behind Mario as the fog slithered over top of him, allowing him to see a little in front of him but chasing him - in a way - towards impending doom. He stopped at the very edge of a smooth cliff, skidding to a halt and causing tiny pebbles to fall into the emptiness below him. Columns of rock stood tall in front of him on either side, creating a makeshift staircase up to a metal platform similar to the one Kirby found him on. Said platform was caught in between the rock pillars, bridging the empty gap beneath it. The plumber tried to keep his eyes up towards his target, which for him wasn't the easiest considering he had no idea how deep the fall would be if he missed a jump. His leg muscles pushed into gear now, and he took his first great jump onto the first pillar. When he landed firmly, he gave himself a running start and jumped onto the next one. In no time at all he made it to the third pillar, where he miscalculated a landing and nearly fell off the end of it. Luckily, he pulled himself up onto the rock, but just barely escaped potentially chipping the end and falling. Now he made it to the main steel formation in the middle. The ghostly blue lights swirled around the stage without a pattern, seemingly searching for something they couldn't find. Mario took another look around the stage, feeling like he was being watched. He was unable to quench the need for safety however, as he didn't find whatever may or may not have been watching him. Suddenly, he was struck in the back of the head by something and was shot towards a steel formation on the short end of the platform. His skull made hard contact with the steel, causing his head to swim and his brain to shake. Mario turned slowly, grabbing the back of his head and straightening his hat before eyeing his attacker in both terror and confusion.

The Villager stood in front of him with a net in his arms, the pupils of his eyes glimmering red with bloodlust and some kind of monstrous hate that Mario couldn't comprehend. It gave the plumber a vicious stare-down, walking slowly towards him equally scarily. It became difficult for Mario to move all of a sudden, as the tension alone was stunning, nay, _killing_ him as the Villager came closer. Without warning the madman charged at him with the net raised above his head. Mario was only able to dodge the incoming attack when he felt his nerves fray, and tried to follow up with an attack that never came out of sheer anxiety that this _creature_ would react faster then he would. Villager pulled out a stick from its back pocket and jabbed Mario in the chest with it as hard as it could manage. Surprisingly it worked, and the plumber felt his heart in his chest beating faster than ever before now. The jabbing continued until Villager pulled out a bowling ball and threatened to crush Mario's skull with it. Snapping back into reality, Mario brought a fist to Villager's face, striking it precisely and hearing the unholy sound of skin hitting skin. After the first punch came another, and another, the last blow being one fueled by the need to survive. Villager tumbled back to the other side of the stage, its facial expression unchanging as it got up without trouble. From out of nothingness came a Lloyd rocket that took off at high speed from the Villager to Mario. This one was also dodged by Mario, who shot a fireball out from the palm of his hand at his opponent. The flames whizzed past the Villager as it sidestepped out of the way, facing Mario with even more hate in its eyes. The net came back out again, this time just barely catching Mario off guard as the plumber shifted to one side. A fifth punch hit Villager in the face as Mario prepared to juggle him into the air, angling his strikes upward towards the sky. When the knockback increased, Mario took to the sky and followed with a series of horizontal kicks to the Villager's abdomen. After the second kick came a vertical kick that pushed Villager in the direction of the impact slightly, one that Mario succeeded with a spectacular forward spike. Both fighters landed on the steel platform again; one made a clean landing on his feet while the other landed face first on the cold ground. Mario turned back around in hopes of seeing his opponent defeated, but to his dismay Villager rose again with a dent on one side of its face. _What the hell!?_ He cried to himself, giving Villager time to slap him across the face with three turnips and pushing him back.

Satisfied that the plumber didn't get up immediately, Villager quickly took out a packet of seeds from its pocket, picked out a seed, and - albeit somehow - planted it into the ground. With just a tiny bit of water from a watering can the little sprout shot up into a tree. Mario lifted his head up slowly, half surprised and half frightened at the sight of the massive tree in front of him. Using the formations at the very back of the stage, he ran up to them and jumped off them to tackle Villager to the ground. His opponent stared him down again, moving a hand to where Mario's was around his throat and clenching it tightly. Out of fear he threw him to the other side of the stage with an audible grunt, giving Mario some time to think about what he could do to get his friend back. What was it that Kirby did to wake him from his hypnosis? Was it the hammer? Was it just fighting the plumber until he gave out? For whatever reason, he couldn't think of what it was. His thoughts were interrupted by his flesh being sliced clean off his chest, causing blood to coat the stage and Villager's face. The impact of the attack sent him flying towards the tree behind him, causing him to cough up blood and his life to fade incredibly slowly. Weakness overcame him, followed by a rush of pain and adrenaline. Villager was creeping closer with a bloodstained ax in his hands, looking ready to give Mario an even bigger wound the second time he sliced him. Mario gripped the end of a tree branch and ripped it off the wood of the tree, tearing a thick chunk of wood from it and throwing it into Villager's eye. It hit with a gross _squelch_ , getting wedged into Villager's eye and making it drop the ax. Mario took the opportunity he was presented with and jumped into the air to land a spike onto Villager's head. The spike pushed his opponent back, and Mario grabbed the ax from the floor and threw it to Villager's head. Like the piece of wood, the blade wedged itself deep into the flesh of Villager, keeping it from getting off the ground - and not drawing blood. The plumber nursed his terrible gash pathetically, hoping that the ax was enough to stop his opponent for good; but to no avail. Villager slowly rose to its feet again, giving Mario a bone chilling glare with the one eye it had left. The same feeling of helplessness and terror overcame him a second time as Villager's mouth opened to an ungodly width; the gums lined with rows of sharp teeth behind flesh threading between the jaws of the Villager. A raspy hiss came from Villager's throat, making Mario think twice about fighting and wanting to surrender. Villager took a leap into the air, only stopping when it came down to try to bite Mario's head off. Mario's arms shot out to grab it by the shoulders and pushing it away with all his strength. Villager snapped and snarled at Mario, its saliva dripping onto Mario's face, disgusting him. Eventually, Mario lowered Villager slightly and kicked him in the torso to the right end of the battlefield. As expected, Villager didn't give up yet, and got right back up to charge at Mario. It took another jump into the air with its unholy mouth open wide, hoping to take a bite out of Mario. Just seconds before it could, Mario raised a flaming fist to give Villager his most powerful attack yet to the chin. The flames eagerly licked and stuck onto Villager as it fell to the ground below. The heat intensified around Villager, and it shrieked in pain as it finally exploded in front of Mario. Flesh coated the stage and Mario's overalls, making him gag a little at the sight.

A circular white light appeared to him, pausing momentarily to create the outline of the Villager. The light twinkled brightly as the outline was filled suddenly and the real Villager stood where the fake had once been. Its eyes flickered open with confusion, turning about to register its surroundings and figure out where it was. "Oh! Mario! You're here! But, if you're here and I'm here, where are we?" It spoke, scratching the back of its head as it looked around again. "Oh my goodness, you're hurt! Here, let me help." From the back pocket of the Villager's shorts was a tiny flask filled with a lime green liquid. Villager unfastened the cork and gave it to Mario, who drank it desperately. "T-thanks," He coughed, letting the gash seal itself. "Let me guess, I did this didn't I?" Villager asked in a sorrowful tone. "Well I wouldn't say _you_ did it. I'd say an evil clone of you did it because you were mind controlled," Mario replied, brushing himself off. Villager began to shake in panic. "M-mind controlled!? By who?"

"I don't know. But whoever is in charge of stealing our friends and turning them against us messed with the wrong heroes!"

Villager looked into Mario's eyes somewhat fearfully. Seeing the person who was pretty much a legend back in its town made him feel a little bit better about the trials ahead of them. "Y-yeah! They don't know who they're messing with! So, uh, what do we do now?" Mario gave Villager a bit of a tired look before taking a seat on the ground. "First, I think sleeping is an order."


	5. Chapter 5: VS Marth

Kirby cautiously pulled himself up onto the very top of a rocky hill that overlooked a plain. With one hard glance he could spot his target from a few miles away based on where he stood. A series of smaller rocky hills were at the base of the one he stood on, holding it up like a statue above the ground. Nestled in the center of the vast plain was a lone metal platform akin to the one Kirby fought Mario on, but this one was glowing different colors since the sun was setting quicker than Kirby had anticipated. The warm oranges were replaced with luscious red and violet colors that made Kirby sleepy looking at them. Faint stars contrasted against the plain sky, reminding Kirby of what things were like on Popstar. A strange new feeling hit him, and it wasn't just the cold breeze that grazed his body. It was a longing for peace, a feeling that things were never going to be the same. He felt lonely and worried all of a sudden.

He felt homesick.

He mumbled a sad "Poyo," to himself as he unwillingly brought his eyes down to the metal stage again, thinking about the fighting and why he was participating in it in the first place. _Friends are here too, friends from other planets. They care about you, you care about them. Friends need help now and you go rescue,_ he thought to himself. Oddly now of all times was he regretting trying to rescue them at all. The scenes of the previous fights he had suffered through flashed in his mind. Since he was thinking surprisingly deep for how simple minded he was, he didn't feel he could handle fighting another hellish clone or having to save a demonized version of his friend that wanted to eat his flesh. Part of him was ready to leave when something below the hill moved. If he squinted a bit he could see a faint blue figure walking around the stage, searching for something behind a crooked, jagged mess of steel that protruded from the short side of the stage. The colors of the figure began to jog his memory slowly; and then he remembered. It was Marth, the prince of Altea, the one who shared biscuits and tea with him and Peach. The royal who always wore a tiara - which Kirby thought was odd. But then again Kirby didn't fully know that Marth was a man. Upon recognizing his friend, the urge to run up to him and ask for food pounded in his head. If there was anything to Kirby that was more difficult than fighting demented versions of his friends, it was refusing food. Unfortunately, this was all that Kirby knew about Marth, and it was something that was near impossible to refuse. So, of course, Kirby slid right down the rocky hill and skipped off to the stage to ask Marth for some tea and biscuits.

His stubby hands pulled him up the edge of the stage weakly, tiring him slightly more than he was before. On the opposite side of the stage was Marth, who was bending over and searching for something behind a pair of jagged steel protrusions. Though about a third of his body was blocked by the metal, Kirby could still tell it was the Hero-king himself based on the rest of his clothing. Kirby hesitated for a second or so, unsure of whether or not he should ask, or even approach Marth for that matter. But when his stomach called for food, nothing would stop the puff from getting whatever he was craving in the moment; and now it was Marth's tea and biscuits. Within about five steps Marth pulled his head out from between the metal and bore through Kirby's eyes with an animalistic and hungry grimace. Kirby froze in his tracks when he heard Marth growl, a growl that sounded much like a wolf. His eyebrows knitted and his mouth opened to reveal a pair of sharp canines on his upper and lower jaw that were connected by a thin thread of spit. The growl turned into a canine roar, and he drew Falchion from its sheath on his belt. Kirby backed up a few feet, raising his arms up in defense as Marth came closer to him with the blade in one hand. "Tea-poyo?" Kirby asked with a shy smile. Marth roared at Kirby again, which segmented into a sharp swing of Falchion right above his head. The end of the sword hit thin air as Kirby ducked below the path of it and prepared to take off in the opposite direction. Marth was quick to stop him, and he grabbed Kirby from behind and threw him backwards against the stage. Kirby lost all the air in his body when he rested on the floor, trying to move out of the way fast enough before Falchion could cut him from above. Blood leaked out of Kirby's foot when Falchion hit the metal floor, giving Marth the fuel to keep fighting Kirby.

The puff rolled out of the way when the sword came to him again, making Marth grumble at his missed attempt. Falchion sliced the air rapidly, trying to catch Kirby in whatever moment time wanted it to. Finally, Falchion left three nasty cuts on the side of Kirby's face using the very end of the blade; blood gushed into the air and lightly painted Marth's sword. Kirby whimpered in pain and tried to roll behind Marth as the prince lashed out again. Kirby successfully rolled behind him and kicked Marth as hard as he could in the back, earning a grunt from the attack. Marth hit the floor with another grunt, but had no time to recover as Kirby gave him a kick to the back of the head. Instead of following up the string of kicks, he shuffled backward away from the prince, hoping maybe that would snap him out of this control and they wouldn't have to fight anymore. But Marth raised his head and snarled, pulling himself off the ground and pointing Falchion at Kirby. He lunged forward and shot the sword at Kirby, missing by a few inches as Kirby turned and ran behind the metal formation behind him. Marth turned after him and tried to reach through a spot between the metal with one hand to grab Kirby. Panicking, Kirby took a small chunk of metal off the surface of the stage, preparing to use it as a weapon of sorts. Marth leapt over the metal in front of Kirby, snapping his jaws at the puff as he hit the floor. The piece of metal flew out of Kirby's hands and into Marth's jaws, making him choke on it. While Marth was stunned, Kirby kicked him across the face, being careful not to help get the piece of metal out from his throat, and delivered a vertical kick to his chin. After the set of kicks, Kirby grabbed Marth by his cape and threw him back over the metal structure onto the flat surface of the stage. Marth groaned at the impact of being hit on the back of the head, and it helped burn any anger he had for Kirby when the puffball came out from behind the metal. Falchion was lifted above Marth's head and came down in a swift but barbaric motion down to hit the ground as Kirby dodged it. A series of unruly, unfocused swings came after it, making it harder for Kirby to avoid it, but also not landing Marth any successful hits. Seconds after the sixth swing Kirby kicked Marth in the torso, making the prince stumble backward and nearly drop Falchion. Before Kirby could land another kick, Marth snatched Kirby by his stubby hand and pushed him against the ground, launching him vertically into the air. Falchion was able to catch Kirby this time, slicing him open on the side of his body with the sound of slicing flesh following it. Kirby cried out at the attack, and Marth was able to grab him by his foot to bring him back down to earth. The puff was then sandwiched between the snarling prince above him and the cold steel below, watching Marth try to bite into Kirby with the sharp fangs he now possessed. Kirby's struggling didn't do very much for him no matter how hard he fought, and Marth ended up nipping him in some spots on his face. Kirby's foot came to hit Marth in the chin, and the prince recoiled a bit and giving Kirby more room to wiggle. Finally, he squirmed out of the prince's grip and kicked him three times in the face, earning a snarl from Marth. Just before Kirby could land back on the stage, Falchion came in a blur out of nowhere and cut him deep across the face.

The sting was unbearable for Kirby, and he could feel his life crippling away sluggishly. Crimson blood stained both Falchion and Marth's attire, which became a sight that made Marth grin maliciously. He stepped in front of Kirby with Falchion pointed downward, thinking of the best way to kill the pink puff below him. Said puff was still trying to get himself to breathe and ignore the pain of all his cuts, but he had never felt pain this intense before and thus it was very difficult to manage. Falchion rose above both Marth and Kirby, the end of it twinkling with the rising moonlight, signaling it had defeated its opponent. Mere milliseconds before it came down on him again, Kirby stood up and inhaled as best he could, aiming for the weapon above him. Marth growled at Kirby in surprise, his grip tightening around Falchion's hilt as it slipped from his fingers. Kirby put more power into his vacuum-like pull, still hoping to steal the sword out of the prince's hands. Falchion finally slipped from Marth's hands and swung into Kirby's mouth, gaining him the Shield breaker ability and his own mini Falchion. The real sword he discarded in the form of a star to the far end of the stage, making its owner uneasy at having to retrieve it. The prince was not one to lose the precious seconds he had to get it, and pursued the weapon immediately before Kirby could notice. He ran right up to Marth, using the tip of Falchion to catch him by his left foot and twist it slightly to one side, tripping his target. He fell just inches away from Falchion's hilt, which Kirby poppy guarded to keep Marth from getting any ideas. Grumbling, Marth stood up and brought an unnoticed clawed hand to Kirby's face, drawing blood and pushing him out of the way of his prize. As Marth pulled himself towards Falchion's hilt, Kirby retaliated by stabbing Marth's fingers with his mini Falchion, slicing off a pinky and a ring finger as a result. Marth reached out with another hand to grab the hilt, but lost two more fingers when Kirby sliced him again. A growl rose from his throat and he slapped Kirby with whatever remained on his left hand to get Falchion with his right. Unfortunately for him, Falchion was practically buried in the steel of the stage, which, to Marth's dismay, meant he would have to try and pull it out with both hands. The Popstarian, however, knew that it would be almost impossible for Marth to retrieve his blade in time, and started to charge up his hammer for the third time. This time it was Marth who panicked, and he started pulling so hard that the flesh in his arms were partly tearing out of the sockets. When the hammer burst into flames with a loud _fwoosh,_ Kirby bounced into the air and struck Marth in the jaw with it, causing Marth to roar in protest.

Marth's body landed a few feet away from Falchion, utterly stunned and laying on the floor hopelessly. Kirby abandoned his ability as a tiny star that vanished into the air and watched Marth's flesh expand in his neck. It moved further downward to his chest, where his chest, shoulders, and face began to bubble up. Then, with a demonic howl he exploded into chunks of rancid flesh. Thankfully for Kirby, none of it landed on him, and he was able to stand idly and watch his friend come back to life. Marth appeared where the fake body lay before, his eyes fluttering open sleepily as he lifted a hand to his forehead. His aching muscles pushed him to sit up and face Kirby, who was ready to move had Marth still been under Galeem's control. "Ngh, where the- Kirby?" He mumbled, staggering to his feet only to stumble and hit the stage face first. Kirby waddled up to him and talk as he regained his strength. "Poyo…?" Kirby said, looking the prince in his fatigued blue eyes. "Kirby, what's going on? Where is everyone else?" He asked, now pulling himself up on his own and getting the hang of walking. This moment of strength was short lived however, as he ended up back down on his hands and knees vomiting rather violently. He coughed the remains of the vomit a few seconds after and stood back up unhurriedly. "Poyo poyo," Kirby told him. "You don't know? Then how did you find me here?" Kirby tried to explain the current events that were unfolding; including the demonic clones, the spirits, and how he found Mario. "So Mario is alive and searching for our friends as well? And we're supposed to meet him east of here at an abandoned shrine you said?" Kirby nodded and pointed in the direction they were supposed to go. "If that is what he asks and if that is what is most beneficial to us, then say no more."

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 **A/N:** Just a heads up about a few things for the future of this story: the first being that I won't cover every single battle in WoL because there are _way_ too many of them to cover in a simple story like this, so I'm going to stick to the ones that are either the most interesting to me or the ones that I feel are important (other than the character awakening battles of course). The second thing is that I'm going to add letters at the beginning of each chapter so you know whose it is. For instance, the next chapter will be part of Mario's path, so I'm going to put an (M) in the chapter if you want to follow his story. After that will be Kirby's path, so I'll put a (K) if you want to follow Kirby's path. That way it will be easier for both me and you, as the reader, to follow a story or keep track of which one is which. The last thing is that I might not update for a little while since the holidays are coming up and I'm kind of busy with personal stuff so I'd say expect an update by _at least_ February or March. Thank you for being patient and happy Smashing!

 **Edit (12/13/18):** Fixed A/N, some grammar mistakes, and some other tiny minor changes here and there.


	6. (M) Chapter 6: Let's-a go!

**A/N:** IliterallyjustrealizedthatIforgottheLoZGuardianspiritbattlewithR. Just a quick note for the future, I'm going to give some of the character clones more personality by giving them their own horrifying traits that make them both a challenge for our awakened fighters to fight and make sure this isn't just a narrative of WoL and is actually something even just a little bit unique. Plus, I'm having way too much fun making this a bit dark so expect some more violent and scary things later on. Enough about me, here's the result of my long, stress-filled hiatus.

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Light orange flames reached for the skies when Villager tossed a few stray, dead branches into it, stirring smoke and sending small flickers of the flame from around the pit. Surrounding the few dead sticks was a circle of small stones, keeping the flames caged within its barriers. Proud of its findings, Villager brushed it's hands against one another and took a seat across from Mario, staring blankly at the ground. Night had settled in with both fighters, bringing a wave of sleep over them from the darkness that overtook the previously colorful sky. Mario sighed and shifted his gaze to another patch of dirt on the ground, feeling the loose, sticky bandages move with him on his face and neck. This then turned into zoned out staring at the rocky hills and ragged mountains boxing them into the desolate, dead area that Mario rescued Villager in. Thin clouds loomed overhead, faintly blocking out any silver moonlight that would've touched the ground. A rumble broke the silence, startling both fighters temporarily before realizing fully what it was. "Sorry about that. It's a shame there's no food around here," Mario sighed, resting a hand on his stomach. "Oh, no worries. It happens," Villager responded, a calm smile on its face. "So after we rest up, what do we plan to do next?" "We'll head west and meet up with Kirby at an abandoned shrine there. Hopefully he'll have one of our friends, and if not, I hope he's alive." Villager nodded to the plumber. "But what if we don't find Kirby there? What if he's dead or doesn't know we're there?" It questioned. Mario shook his head; clearly he hadn't thought of it. "Not sure. We should either wait for him to meet up with us or we continue looking for our friends." Villager shuddered for a moment at the thoughts of other negative possibilities that began to flood its head. "What if a clone meets us there?" It whimpered, sinking into its sitting position and shuddering slightly. Mario brushed his hat and messy brown locks of hair casually before setting the hat down beside him. "Don't worry about it my friend. We'll take action in the morning. I think for now we should worry about resting up," He sighed, adjusting his position to lay on the floor and use his cap as a pillow. Villager's mouth opened a third time to suggest something else, but it held back what it would have said when it realized Mario was right. Concerning the urgency of the matters at hand, it would be wise to get sleep for whatever danger lie ahead. Sure, Villager wasn't a necessarily a 'fighter', but it was always willing to lend a hand - though with the bloodshed Mario had informed it about Villager easily hated the idea of hurting someone so much that their organs nearly spilled out of their body. Villager heaved a sigh before sliding down onto the dry dirt below to lay in a fetal position with its hands under its head. "So off to sleep then?" It asked. "Yeah. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!"

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Just as morning touched the land, Villager could hear faint noises from outside in its sleep. It's consciousness very sluggishly returned to its brain, making it feel weak and a bit unsteady at first. When consciousness fully returned, Villager lifted its oval-shaped head up groggily, hoping the sounds could be stopped somehow. Villager's eyelids opened, and it lifted a hand to rub its eyes, half expecting to see Mario either sleeping or sitting at the dead fire. The sight that came to meet Villager's eyes sent it into a frenzy, causing it to jump right up from where it sat, its blood mixing with adrenaline as it did so. Standing right in front of him was Mario, who was neck-and-neck with a Wendy clone, his fists flying out angrily towards the clone's disgruntled face. The Wendy hissed at Mario when his fist knocked it off balance with a few punches to its bulbous lips, giving Mario some time to regain his own balance. He huffed audibly, turning around slowly to catch Villager looking up at him worriedly. "Oh, sorry if I woke ya up. It didn't get ya did it?" He asked, trying to tear off one of the bandages that was hanging on the end of his arm. Villager shuddered as he stared at the fallen clone, watching it rise and climb into the clown-car replica slowly. "Uh, n-no it didn't. Watch out!" Villager shouted, pointing a finger at Wendy. Mario ran up to it immediately, leaping just a few feet off the ground in order to use the filthy bandage that was once around his arm to wrap it around Wendy's eyes to blind it. Wendy cried out as soon as he did, but it's protests meant nothing when Mario's fireball shot straight through its body. The fire was absorbed by Wendy when he pressed his hand on its shell, boring a huge hole of what looked like melting plastic in its stomach. Within seconds, the creature began to melt, and with a final whisper of protest, it was now a puddle of melted yellow flesh. From behind the puddle stood the plumber, who knelt down somewhat and caught his breath. He looked up to see Villager, who appeared stunned and too afraid to move at what happened in front of it. "Hey, it's alright. Wendy's gone," Mario told his friend, brushing off his hands on his dirty gloves. "Y'know, if we're gonna save our friends _and_ the world, we're probably gonna have to deal with 'lotta those. I know it'll be hard to recognize friend from foe, but this is what we gotta do." "How do we know that it's one of our friends? If we fight too hard, will we kill them?"

"No. When these _things_ die, they either melt or explode. From my understanding, if they explode we've found one of our friends. And if it melts, it's just a goon."

Villager's face contorted in disgust at what Mario told it. "T-they _explode?!_ You're joking, right?" It asked in disbelief. Mario simply chuckled at it when he peeled off a second bandage in his hands. "I wish I was to be honest. Now follow me. The path looks like it leads back this way." Villager did as it was told, and began to walk with Mario west towards a set of hills that barricaded either side of the dry plain they camped out in. A soft noise stopped both friends as something rose up above the melted puddle, revealing itself to be a glistening orb of white light. "Hey! You two! Who the hell are you?!" A feminine voice scolded, leaving both fighters a bit intimidated. "Better question, who are _you?_ " Villager retorted. The light drifted closer to them at Villager's response. "For your information buster, I'm the one and only Tron Bonne! Famous pilot and renowned Air Pirate! Now answer my question, who are you?!" Tron Bonne spat, the steam surrounding the circular vessel she was encased in rising around her. "I-I'm Villager, and this is my good friend Mario. We're t-trying to find all our friends because a bad guy kidnapped them all. W-where did you come from?" Villager continued. "Well, I was fixing some machines in my workshop when this blinding light came out of nowhere and wiped everything out! And then I ended up here! Speaking of which, where am I?" She asked. Mario relaxed a bit and dipped his hat a little downward. "We don't even know where we are. All we know is that we should track down our enemy and find out what's happening around here," He said. Though it was hard to see, Tron Bonne was giving Mario a confused look. "What? How can you not know where you are when you guys have already been here? How did you even know your friends were here?" _A fair question,_ The plumber thought. "Maybe because our friends saved us here. So if some of our friends were already here, than that means everyone else is here right?" He responded. Tron Bonne paused momentarily. "Eh, I guess that works. Say, you two are heroes, correct? Or adventurers? How about I come with you guys? I'm real talented with machines. Maybe I could lend you guys some help!" She asked. Mario turned to face Villager, his expression asking it for it's opinion on the matter. "I think maybe another friend could help. We should have strength in numbers!" It spoke, standing triumphantly. "I agree. Welcome to the team, Tron Bonne!"

Though it was near impossible to see through it, there was a feeling of glee that radiated off the spirit at the decision. Suddenly, Tron Bonne faded from view, and a feeling of strength washed over both fighters. "W-woah! What just happened? A-am I in your body or something?" Tron Bonne's voice cried out. "I think so. Whatever you just did, we got new powers. Are you okay?" Mario said. "Well if both of you feel alright then that's not any of my concern. And me? I'm fine." Regaining his focus, Mario stood upright and turned to face Villager again. "So we're good then? Alright, let's go find Kirby."

* * *

By the time they approached the abandoned shrine the sun was in the center of the sky, beating down on both of them along with thick clouds of dust that followed the wind that was beginning to pick up behind them. The dust had gotten thicker, obstructing their view just a bit that was only made worse by the intense sunlight. A hand came up to block out some of the rays from Villager's face, helping to keep its sight. Through the swirling dust and sand that began to follow them, they caught the faint outline of a stone formation about twenty to forty feet away; visible, though very blurry. "There it is," Mario whispered to Villager. "Hopefully Kirby is around here." They walked closer to the steps of the shrine, focusing on the shrine itself and not the giant white glove that materialized seemingly out of thin air above them. It shot downward at them, fingers curved in an attempt to grab them. A gust of wind preceded it, warning both fighters of its presence before it could strike. Mario grabbed Villager by the back of its shirt and jerked it away while dodging backward, causing the glove to scrape the dirt when it got close enough to them. The plumber missed his landing and ended up sliding across the ground, dirtying his and Villager's face. The hand shot up into the sky again, only stopping when it was directly in their path. Its fingers joined together in an ear piercing _snap_ that was succeeded by the rumbling of the Earth beneath them. In front of them, the stone formations collapsed onto the stairs, and the hand summoned hundreds of boulders to top the mess of falling rock, creating an impassable wall atop the stairs. After this, the hand shot forward again, aiming for the fighters on the ground. Once again, Mario gripped Villager's shirt and pulled it aside, dodging the second attack and standing up on his feet. Similarly, the hand shot back into the air again, where it turned a very faint shade of orange momentarily before exploding in a ball of fire about twenty feet away from them. The blast sent them flying toward the wall of rocks, the impact of their skulls on the stone sending their vision swimming for a few minutes. New wounds grazed their flesh, including burns and scratches from the dirt and dust. Villager was the first to pick itself up, shaking its head in order to fully understand what happened. Mario's body lay very close to it, slumped over and breathing slowly. "Hey! Mario! Get up!" It cried, shaking Mario's arms lightly to coax him awake. The plumber's consciousness lacked haste, and Mario woke almost two minutes after the impact. "Wait, the shrine! It's-!" He stuttered. He pushed himself to his feet and turned to face the massive wall of rock towering over them, preventing them from moving on. Desperately, Mario's fist hit one of the rocks in hopes of breaking it, but the only thing it sounded like it broke was a couple of Mario's bones. He stumbled back before being caught by Villager. "I don't think we can get through it. It looks like it would take ages to climb, and we can't destroy it," commented Villager. "Yeah. It stretches pretty far too. But we gotta find some way to get around it!" Just before Mario could take any other actions, Villager tugged on his glove. "W-we can't! And that floating hand just exploded and hurt us real bad! We should find some other way around it, or go another way!" Mario's stubborn gaze held Villager's concerned ones for a good moment before he sighed quietly. "Okay then, let's just hope that Kirby found someone. If he's waiting on the other side, we should hope that he won't stay there forever."

* * *

Afternoon didn't seem to take much of an interest in leaving hours after their encounter with the hand, as Mario and Villager continued trekking through the desert area fighting off numerous clones and meeting new spirits along the way. When all hope seemed lost and exhaustion began to take over their bodies, something new caught their eyes just below the hill they arrived at. Below said hill was a race track with a set of twelve cars lined up in the very center, the light humming of their engines being the only noise that could be heard throughout the track. A row of tires were neatly lined up beside them, and beside that was a long, rectangular barrier painted with red and white stripes. Grass and plants were beginning to assume control of the track, having pierced through the asphalt and approaching the silent bleachers. Sitting idly at the start of the track was a yellow and green colored car that floated just a few feet off the ground, its engine humming the loudest out of all of them. Mario and Villager tumbled into the race track, looking about for anyone or anything that would be of interest. But there was nothing other than wind and engines to be heard and other unimportant items. "You can drive a go-kart, right Mario?" Villager questioned. "I have before. Why do you ask?" He said. Villager brought a finger to the floating car at the start of the race track. "Do you think you would be able to drive that?" The plumber gave said car a thoughtful look. "Let me take a look. I've never seen anything like this before…" They approached the machine quickly and began to inspect it carefully. It was very elaborately decorated, with thinner green swirls on the very underside of the machine. Green metal plates wrapped around the yellow in between them in a crescent shape, with a white number six painted on the end of each ends of green metal. The cockpit was very large and somewhat see-through, and inside it was a big, black leather chair and numerous buttons and controls in front of the chair. The amount of buttons and odd components of the machine perplexed both fighters. "I have no idea what this is, and I'm not very confident I can drive it very well, if at all," Mario concluded. "Do you think we can find a spirit around here who can drive it?"

"Not sure. We'd have to fight a lot of clones who'd want us dead in order to find a driver."

"Why don't we try going up the path? Or looking around the track? But … there doesn't seem to be anyone else around here."

"I say we go up the path, there might be something else we can find up there while we're at it."

At the mention of the path, both fighters turned to inspect the empty path from where they stood. Though it was a bit far, it was quite obvious that it was completely empty, with no clone fighters roaming about or even any plants covering the gray asphalt. Whatever else could be seen in the distance was only an outline thanks to a mysterious bright light that blurred out everything behind it. Mario's head came back around to face Villager, who was still contemplating the idea of going that direction. "What do you think? Should we head up north?" He asked. Villager immediately turned to him at the sound of his voice. "Sure! But afterward we should come back, in case we find the driver." "Sure we will, now let's go!"


	7. (K) Chapter 7: The adventure begins

The sky lost its citrus hues and replaced them with beautiful, enchanting blue and purple ones when Marth and Kirby set up camp, and it quickly became a sight that made their movements more languid than before. Kirby was the first to drift off to sleep, since he had done more activity than what his little body was used to. Marth, meanwhile, sat directly across from the slumbering extraterrestrial gazing into the weak fire they had set up as if hoping it would dance on his command. He had stripped himself of any accessories; his boots were cast off to his right, Falchion was set on his left still clipped around the belt along with his chest plate and shoulder pads resting on top of the sword's scabbard. Thin fingers moved their way to the latches on his elbow high gloves to undo them, drowsiness traveling up to his head as he did so. In the midst of the silence, a terrible groan rose from seemingly nowhere. It was only at the feeling of his muscles churning did Marth realize it was merely his stomach, the apprehension of nausea still lurking in his body from being practically stuffed inside a monstrous shell of a fighter that pretended to truly be him. Finally, the dark gloves slipped off their wearer's arms, falling limp to the ground only to be lifted up and placed on top of the cold metal of the chest plate. As Marth changed position to lay down, he heard Kirby stir and mumble something in his sleep. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips at this; like everyone else, the prince could not resist Kirby's unmatched cuteness. His deep blue eyes lifted to make contact with the deeper blue sky above him, tiny, faint stars gleaming in white like microscopic holes on the blue, accompanied by a pale white half moon to the left of the center of the sky. Nights like these reminded him of his time in Altea, where he would gaze out the windows of the castle to find the time of day had gone ahead of him while he worked signing treaties with other kingdoms, looking through letters, and simply taking care of royal business. Unconsciously, his eyebrows locked when he remembered the castle, then he delicately lifted the golden circlet off the center of his head to his eyes, where he studied the elegant patterns of the gold swirls and the sparkling ruby in the center. Many insulted him for wearing such an accessory, not knowing its true purpose. It was, after all, the only thing Marth would consider close to a 'crown'; especially since it was one of the few hand-me-downs that were worth keeping. Said circlet was a gift from his older sister Elice, who died saving him when an opposing kingdom invaded. The thought of his sister and the importance of this circlet was a very sensitive topic for him, and even just thinking about it gave him a tight feeling in his chest. A sigh came from the prince's lips as he placed the circlet down on the end of the sword scabbard and lay his head on the chest plate, pulling his cape on top of him as a makeshift blanket. Marth's eyes came back to stare into the dying fire, its warmth evaporating steadily. They were lucky to have found anything flammable in the lifeless desert they were now in, even if those things were only several dead twigs and branches from dried bushes. Based on what Kirby had told him - which wasn't in great detail - the prince was to travel with Kirby to a shrine to the east of their current location to meet up with Mario, and hopefully, another awakened fighter. He couldn't help but let his thoughts drift to this task and any mishaps that were likely to occur on their way there. What was worse was that Kirby was not the best person to ask for directions, and often didn't have much of a clue where he was going. If something distracted Kirby easily, which was almost everything, it would almost always shake him from his initial course; this was a fact nearly everyone knew about him, and Marth was sure it would happen tomorrow. But he knew now was not the time to think about such a matter, and that sleep was his top priority at the moment. But how could he sleep when fear was crawling all around him like the ants and beetles he had seen scuttling around him earlier? After all, the past adventure he had been on was with beings who had motivations, partially knew where they were going, and overall were easy to get around with. Marth knew that Kirby could, to some extent, defend himself, but the puff would be difficult to manage concerning his childlike tendencies. _Perhaps it will be like babysitting,_ the prince thought to himself.

A sudden yawn escaped his mouth as exhaustion clouded over him again, interrupting his worries and reminding him of what mattered now. Marth could see the pink puffball through the continuously dying flame still sleeping without stirring or shifting uncomfortably in his sleep; the only movement being the soft rise and fall of his body as he snored almost silently. Without warning, his eyelids began to drape over his handsome blue eyes, and before he knew it, he blacked out completely.

* * *

Heavy breathing started to rouse Marth awake slowly, the sound just barely scraping past his consciousness. Only when a thread of cold liquid touched the skin just above his eyebrow did his blood begin to run through his body normally, and he jolted awake though his eyes were still closed. A low rumbling noise was what caused him to open his eyes, and the sight that beheld him pushed the adrenaline through his blood. Standing just above him and boring into his eyes was Richter; the Vampire Hunter's bulging red eyes looking as if they would pop out of his head at any second, a thread of saliva going down his lips and connecting loosely to his chin. To Marth's dismay, the dribble broke from Richter's lips and fell right on his nose, earning a cringe and disgusted groan from the prince. Within just a few seconds, Marth leapt up from his semi comfortable position and clutched Falchion in his hand, not bothering to put on his armor or cape at the moment. Richter jumped at Marth's sudden movements, backing up a foot or so and eyeing the prince without any expression. Marth pointed Falchion boldly at Richter's chest, half expecting for Richter to make a move, but he made none. An immediate cry for help came from behind the prince, who turned to find the source of the cry. Standing behind him was Zelda, dressed in a blue garment over a white dress with blue-green colored stripes around the base of the dress and on the ends of the sleeves. In her arms was Kirby, who was wiggling furiously in an effort to escape. She glared at him as he cried out a second time, his wiggling continuing as her grip tightened on his fragile body. In an attempt to set him free, Marth bent down to retrieve one of the nearly burned sticks in the fireplace - which was oddly still lukewarm - and tossed it at Zelda's face, getting said stick wedged in her eye. The action did nothing for either fighter, as Zelda only turned to face Marth with an angry grimace. When their gaze locked, Richter's fist came to the center of Marth's head, forcing the prince onto the ground as Richter reached for the Vampire Killer. Falchion's deadly tip sliced successfully through the center of Richter's shin, causing his balance to shift and for him to fall on his back with a monstrous grunt. As Marth tried lifting himself up, Zelda turned and ran the other direction, carrying Kirby with her. He got back up to his feet and gave chase, hoping to catch up with her as rocks scrapped his bare feet. Zelda turned around a bit to catch sight of him, and when she did, she sped up running, the fear somewhat prevalent in the one eye that saw Marth. When he calculated that he was close enough to her, Falchion jabbed her shoulder blades at a tremendous speed, startling Zelda and pushing her onto the ground, sandwiching Kirby in the process. She sat up, facing him, the lukewarm stick that was wedged in her eye seemingly beginning to make the flesh around it evaporate in a way that it looked like her eye sockets were bigger than they actually were. One of her hands was lifted up to meet Marth's face just about a few feet away, and a glowing sensation began to appear in her palm. Just before she could unleash a fire spell, Marth took an unsure swing at her wrist, resulting in the hand flying clean off where the bone would be and revealing flesh that looked much like plastic. The sight caused Marth to pause in his next attack, partially baffled by the lack of normal flesh that Zelda had. Zelda, in turn, took this moment to turn and run, this time hoping to escape with Kirby in her grasp. He shook his head slightly and gave chase a second time, this time just barely catching up with her. Once again, Falchion pierced her flesh, this time through her back and directly through her stomach. Marth attempted to pin her to the ground with the sword, but Zelda's struggling made it difficult for him to get her to freeze in one place. The blade came out of the Hylian's stomach when Marth pushed her onto the dirt, giving him another opportunity to slice the remaining hand off and allowing Kirby to free himself. Just as she released Kirby, Zelda gave Marth a low hiss and scooted away from him with what was left of her arms. Before Marth could take a third swing at her, Richter came out of seemingly nowhere and wrapped the Vampire Killer snugly around Marth's neck; Falchion dropping onto the dirt as the prince's hands clawed at the metal chain blocking his airway. Zelda stood back up and lifted her wrists up to Marth, the same glowing sensation appearing now in between the wrists. As fire appeared before him, Marth could feel the air being forced from his lungs with Richter's grip tightening tremendously on the chain. A mere second before the flame was released, Kirby leapt up into the air with a mini Falchion in one hand and thrust the blade into Zelda's forehead. The force pushed Zelda forward, and Kirby dragged the sword down on Zelda's face, cutting into her sockets and forcing the one eye she had left out of the socket. As if Richter gained his own free will, he let Marth's body drop onto Zelda's when Kirby lifted the Falchion replica up to Richter's face. Marth rolled off Zelda's unmoving body and began hunting for his own sword, and when he found it, he took a sharp swing to Richter's remaining leg, narrowly cutting off his ankle by about a hair. Richter stumbled back again, hitting the ground with a loud _thump_ , and Kirby jumped onto his torso. He shoved Falchion through Richter's throat, resulting in burbling sounds from where Falchion hit. Richter's hand came to Kirby's face, clenching it tight enough so that Kirby felt like his eyes would pop out, and he rose above the ground preparing to throw Kirby in the opposite direction. Marth reacted quicker than even he expected, and used Dolphin slash on Richter from his waist up before the vampire hunter could further hurt Kirby. Upon contact with the blade, Richter froze, and his body suddenly split in half, the flesh pulling like when someone pulls a grilled cheese sandwich apart. Kirby dropped onto the floor face first, standing up triumphantly and raising the mini Falchion above his head. Marth turned to meet Zelda, who was still on the ground and weakened from the beatings she took. Before she could stand up, Marth elegantly swung his sword across her throat in two swift motions, decapitating her along with tiny scraps of yellow flesh flying out from the wound. With a garbled cry, she began to melt slowly onto the loose dirt beneath her. Proud of his victory, Marth turned back to face Richter while he tussled with Kirby. Similarly to what Marth had done, Kirby swung the mini Falchion straight through Richter's throat, successfully killing the clone. Once done with his part of the battle, Kirby discarded his ability in an almost microscopic star into the air, now facing Marth in search of approval. The prince, in turn, gave Kirby a pleased smile, one that lead Kirby to make a gleeful one as a response. From the midst of Zelda's lifeless corpse rose a small, spherical bright light that seemed to whisper nonsensical words.

Upon hearing the whispers, Marth tensed up and shifted his gaze towards the spherical light, clenching Falchion tightly. "Pardon me, who are you? Where am I? How did I get here?" A feminine voice called to them. Marth wanted to cautiously back up, but he was stopped by Kirby, who threw his pink hands into the air as if to tell Marth not to do anything. He then waddled over to the light, looking curious and unafraid. Marveled by his friend's go-ahead attitude towards it, the prince lowered Falchion and watched from the distance between him and Kirby. "Poyo poyo poyo," Kirby told the light. "You don't know where we are? Then what are you doing here? Surely you _must_ know where you are if you're doing, well, whatever it is you're doing here, right?" She asked. Another "Poyo," from Kirby. "Strange. I guess we're all a little lost here, yes? Before I got here I was in the church practicing my magic when a blinding white light consumed everything! I wonder . . . tell me, who are you?" Kirby introduced himself to the light, then pointed at Marth and introduced him. "My, you're a prince? That must be quite the life, huh?" Marth looked at the light with one of the most blank expressions he could muster. "Depending on what you mean by that, it has it's ups and downs from time to time. And who might you be?" He said. "I'm Charlotte. Charlotte Aulin," She responded. "Poyo! Poyo poyo!" Kirby said, waving his arms in the air again. "Join you? For what reason would I do that? I have other things I would like to do," Charlotte spat. "I believe he is suggesting you join us because we are looking for our friends. You see, we were all taken prisoner and scattered about this land. We could use all the help we can get," elucidated Marth. As if remotely, Charlotte lit up a bit more than she already had. "Oh, captured friends huh? And you think my magic will assist you? This certainly isn't the only time I've been asked for help. You know, I'm feeling generous, so sure, I'll join you," She said, floating closer to Kirby. Below her, Kirby began to hop and cheer loudly, clearly happy to have a new teammate. "It'll be a pleasure to have you Charlotte," Marth spoke, a welcoming grin on his face. Just then, Charlotte vanished into thin air, a few tiny sparkles left over from where she had previously been. When she disappeared, Marth began to search around frantically, both muddled and distressed. Once again, Kirby waddled up to Marth and rose his arms up to the prince. When he got Marth's attention, he explained as best as he could to him what happened, and that Charlotte was fine. "Goodness! Don't worry about me! I'm still here with you guys. But . . . I feel stronger than before," Charlotte told them. "I suppose we're all ready then? Okay. Kirby, lead the way."

* * *

Intense heat had beat down on both fighters as they retraced their - or rather, Kirby's - steps back east in hopes of finding the shrine Kirby told Marth about earlier. Judging by the position of the sun, it was a little after noon, among the worst times of day in terms of how hot the day gets. Marth was the one who was suffering the most between them, as he was wearing somewhat thick armor and clothes that weren't exactly meant for the desert. With the conditions that were prevalent, the prince had a sinking feeling he would get sick at some point during this journey; or worse, die. Through what blurry vision he had left, he could see a few stone pillars sticking up in the distance. Maybe this was the shrine Kirby had described? A few hundred or so feet above them however, lurked an unseen danger. A huge gloved hand resembling that of Master hand was hovering above them, sensing their motions on the ground below. Without warning, it swooped down towards them with its index and middle fingers pointing outward. Kirby was the first to notice, and immediately ducked under its path perfectly. Marth, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, as he was knocked back by the air that followed the path of the hand, causing him to lose any oxygen in his system when he hit the dirt. Acknowledging it's miss, it made a u-turn back around towards them, but failed again as both fighters predicted the attack. Instead of coming back around to attack, the hand began to create boulders with its fingertips and bombard both fighters with them. Marth and Kirby put whatever strength they had left in them to swerve through the onslaught of projectiles, successfully avoiding every single one of them. Curling its fingers into a spiteful fist, the hand slammed down on the ground on either side of them, hoping to crush them into the ground. The prince and the Popstarian avoided this attack too, only stumbling once when the ground shuddered at the impact of the hand. Falchion thrust forward into the gloved hand, hitting it cleanly, bringing shards of what looked like blue glass out of its target. As if reacting to the attack, the hand rose again, this time flying towards the shrine. When it was just above the staircase, it began to form massive boulders every second and starting piling them on top of one another to create a giant wall. After it finished, it hurled the biggest boulder it created at Marth and Kirby. In almost a flash, Marth gripped Kirby by his stubby hand and pulled him out of the path of the boulder, barely saving both of them. As a last resort, the hand came darting towards them again, flashing a bright yellow-orange color rapidly as it approached. "Kirby! Dodge it!" Marth called to him. With unbelievable accuracy, the prince and the Popstarian bounded above the hand, only stopping to use its form as another boost, and dodged the impact of its attack. A few feet behind them, the hand burst in a firey explosion, causing chunks of rock to hit them both on various parts of their body, bruising their skin.

Their breaths were shallow and their chests were tight with how weak they both were. Marth knelt down onto the ground in an effort to catch his breath, and Kirby just flopped onto the dirt. Marth's head rose up again to gaze at the massive wall of rock that now prevented them from meeting up with Mario. Marth eyed it critically in hopes of finding an open spot around it or a spot that they could climb up, but there was none. Any spot that would have given them a chance would easily cause the wall to collapse and crush them. "K-Kirby," Marth breathed. "I think the wall is impossible to pass through. We may have to find another way around it."

"Poyo?!"

"Yes, the path towards the shrine is completely blocked off. If we tried getting through, we would both surely die."

"Poyo poyo . . ."

"I say we could go back west and see what we can find. We may be able to find a way around the shrine to the other side." Kirby's expression softened a bit from fatigue and hopelessness to a faint bit of belief. "Poyo," He said, agreeing with Marth. Once they regained their breaths, they stood up and began walking the opposite direction.

* * *

By the time the sun was drifting below the sky, the environment made a huge shift in temperature from being a dry, blistering heat to a somewhat cooler environment with a few cool breezes from time to time. Grass now grew from where they ended up, and although it had dry patches here and there, it was a sign of life nonetheless. Marth stumbled a bit when he began making his way down the slope from where the wasteland was to the more grassy area. He shifted cautiously as to not end up falling down, watching Kirby float down slowly with his puffed up body. Marth took another subconsciously cautious step forward, moving down further than he thought he would. It was here that he made the poor decision to put some weight on his back leg, resulting in him shifting incorrectly and tripping face first into the dirt. He began to roll down ungraciously onto a flat stone platform at the end of the slope, his back slamming against a three-foot-high wall around the outside of the platform, knocking the wind out of him. Kirby descended onto the platform beside him, moving over to his body hastily and allowing Marth to use his body to stand up again. "Poyo poyo?" Asked Kirby. "Y-yes, I'm fine, thank you," Marth whispered, trying to inhale once more after his stomach resisted it. Marth rose to his feet again using the wall beside him, his eyes stopping to take a look around what was below them. Miles below them were several rocky cliffs, each that were smoothed out around the ledges. Below those appeared to be the edge of a quarry of sorts leading into a massive gorge that looked more like a hole on the earth. Thick clouds covered the area above it, obscuring almost everything that could be seen of what was inside it other than a few scattered giant mushrooms. To the prince's right were the faint outlines of what appeared to be buildings, with a much darker and thicker cloud covering it and completely obscuring everything else that could be seen. Marth took a slow, awestruck glance around what surrounded them, feeling a gentle breeze playfully ruffle his already messy deep blue locks of hair. Kirby climbed up onto the wall to get the same view his friend got, and was equally taken aback by what he saw. "Dear Naga," Marth gasped. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen. It may take us eons to fully explore this place and find anyone familiar to us. I believe it is a worthy challenge of my strength. Kirby, are you up to the challenge?"

"Poyo! Poyo!"

The prince gave Kirby a proud nod. "Then we shall waste no more time. May Naga bless us on our journey."

* * *

 **A/N:** spent literally an entire day on this one chapter. I picked the Marth path in SSBU, and I honestly didn't expect I would have as much fun writing Kirby's story as I did during this one. So, about the next chapters, I will probably be on another long hiatus (I'm sorry okay?) because of more personal stuff (and I got a dog so I need to be taking extra good care of him). As for when to expect an update? I'm honestly unsure, but I would probably say _maybe_ June/July if not sometime in April/May depending on my schedule, but I bet you I'll most likely come back in April bc joKER WILL Be dlC AND Yes I'm goNNA PLAy hiM. For now, thank you for your patience and happy smashing!


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